Organic
by The Spork Warrior
Summary: [COMPLETE] Duo gave his life for Heero, and Heero's taking it very hard. But one day while visiting Duo's grave, things change Drastically. This is a 12 fic, dun worry... no necrophiliacs... Oo
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: Organic

**Author**: HeeroDuo1x2x1

**Rating**: PG-13 for now, rating may go up.

**Genre**: Hmmm… Supernatural, Semi-Angst

**Warnings**: Random 1x2ishness (not quite yet, however), death, cursing (no one cares about that, though…), eventual shounen ai/yaoi, and…. Stuff?

**Pairings**: Oooo! 1x2x1, implied 3x4, implied 6x5. laughs That's funny, since that's not for this chapter.

**Disclaimer**: Not mine, don't sue, go the fuck away. Well, this is my first attempt at supernatural Kill-off-Duo-first fics, so yeah. I like how it's coming along, but I can never know for sure with out the help of the readers. Yeah.

We knew it was a suicide mission. It was the first time all of us had worked together since the Mariemaia Incident, and we knew it would probably be the last time we saw at least one of us.

We expected it would be me.

But not him. We didn't understand why it had to be him. I remember firing off a shot at someone coming at us, and the woman's eyes widening as the bullet entered her. Her gun was forward and she let off a few shots in my direction. But he had run in front of me, and his eyes locked onto mine and he smiled, the fucker. He _smiled_! He had just took 6 bullets for me, had just been shot and blood was pouring from the wounds and yet he smiled. He was shot once in his collar, three times to the chest, and once to the arms and legs. He was going to be the first of us to die.

He found the strength to yell to us, "GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!" and then he fell, coughing up blood. I couldn't let him stay there. I couldn't let him die and then his body be taken by these... people. So I didn't listen. I ran back for him, and snatched him up. I didn't care if he had given up his life for us. I wasn't going to leave him. Dead or alive.

His body was limp on my shoulder as I ran form the premise. I knew he was dead. I could deny it in my mind all I wanted, but it didn't change the fact.

When I arrived at our predetermined rendezvous point, it was Quatre who realized first that Duo wasn't just unconscious. He had run towards Duo's corpse and I and had all but broken down into tears. Duo was dead. The one person I could stand, that I considered a friend, was dead. Gone. Forever. The words hit me like a sledgehammer to the head.

The Perfect Soldier does not cry. He doesn't grieve the death of a comrade, or remain behind to retrieve a body, but for the first time in my life, I broke down. I broke down and cried. I grieved his death, I retrieved his lifeless corpse, and I broke down my defenses and drenched the front of me shirt with tears for him. He wasn't captured, or away. He was _dead_, and there was _nothing_, not even one little thing I could do to change that.

His funeral was beautiful. The weather contradicted our emotions. The sun shone down upon us, smiling and laughing at our grief as Duo's casket was lowered into the cold hard ground. I had steeled myself for it, swore I wouldn't cry. But as I was going to say my final goodbyes to my best friend, the one who gave his life for mine, that steel melted and I shed more tears for him as I tossed the oleander and violet rose into the ground on top of his coffin.

I looked off into the trees, my eyesight blurred and my mind focused only on death. I hadn't expected to see what I did. I thought I had seen him, standing amid the trees. Violet sunglasses covered his eyes, which seemed to glow, and his hair wasn't braided. A ghost? An apparition? A hallucination? I didn't know, but I wanted to cry out to it, whatever it was, I wanted it to be Duo. The apparition just smiled sadly, that same smile he'd given me before he died as Wufei placed a hand on my shoulder. I looked at the Chinese man with reddened eyes, before whipping my head back to where the apparition had stood.

He was gone. A hallucination. I slumped against Wufei, new tears threatening to fall, as he lead me from Duo's grave towards the car.

Months had passed since Duo's death. My entire being ached still, and I had withdrawn form the others. Quatre was worried about me the most. He feared I'd kill myself. I'll admit, once or twice it had crossed my brooding mind. but I refused to go through with it. Duo wouldn't want that. His sacrifice would have been in vain.

The apparition form the funeral haunted my mind. It looked far too much like him to have been a hallucination. Hallucinations can only get so much detail, a human mind can only comprehend so much. It looked like him, smiled like him. The way it's hair had blown in the breeze was too perfect, to on time to be a hallucination. No one could hallucinate something that perfect. But a ghost wouldn't have been affected by the wind, also discrediting my hopes that he really wasn't dead. I'd seen the shape his body had been in. The way his body crumpled and remained limp in my arms. There was no way he had lived through that. No way he could have so thoroughly tricked us all.

That apparition hadn't only appeared at the funeral. Numerous times in the six months following his death, I had seen him. I had seen him examining fruit at a produce market, though glancing around boredly. Seen him getting on a motorcycle when I drew near enough to see if it was really him. A ghost wouldn't be able to ride a motorcycle. I'd seen him in bookstores, clothing stores, and parks. Always doing something normal, something a ghost wouldn't be able to do.

But he never seemed to realize that I had seen him. His eyes never left what he was doing, and when I'd blink or turn away for a moment, he'd be gone again, vanished without a trace. I couldn't figure out what he had to gain from faking his death. I nearly gave up believing it was him.

Every Saturday afternoon I would visit his grave. The cemetery was old and beautiful, located near the Valdosta State University in Georgia. There were mausoleums present on the premise, allowing art students wonderful subjects. It was a beautiful place to sit and read, and that's what I would do. I would sit at the foot of his grave and read aloud. Things he'd liked in life. I would read Poe, Oscar Wilde, really any book I knew had belonged to him. I was on my way to sit and read the next time I saw the apparition. I was later than usual; it was approaching 4, and I normally I would have already departed by that time. I had been held up by a phone call from one blonde haired Queen of the World, insisting that my grieving had gone on long enough, that I should start thinking about proposing to her. I didn't even like her and she was expecting me to propose? She was a few rice balls short of a lunchbox.

When I began the hike through the cemetery towards Duo's grave, it was to see my normally vacant spot taken. It was the apparition, and he was lounging, casual-as-can-be, atop the grave. My eyes widened. I took a few more hesitant steps, my body only a few feet from the grave and the lounger. If it was possible, my eyes continued to widen with every step.

It was him! Duo Maxwell was laying atop his own grave, his eyes closed and partially hidden behind violet sunglasses. His arms provided a pillow behind his head, and he was gently singing under his breath. I couldn't comprehend what I was seeing. I took a deep breath, my arms and body shaking uncontrollably. It wasn't possible for it to _really_ be him. All the times I had seen him, it had to have been my mind playing tricks. But it wasn't. Because there he was. Plain as day.

He must have heard my intake of breath, and slowly opened one hauntingly purple eye to stare at me. Shock was evident on his pale face as quickly sat up and looked me over, glancing at his watch and furrowing his brow in confusion.

We stared at each other for a long moment before I couldn't take it anymore. In barely more than a whisper, I breathed, "D-Duo?"

He nodded slightly, his confusion fading as he began to look worried. Tears formed in my eyes for the first time in six months as I launched myself at him, unable to control myself. He was solid! He was really there as I wrapped my arms around him and sobbed, shaking with relief, grief and anger. I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to beat him to a bloody pulp. But all I did was sob as he slowly brought his arms to surround me and he began to whisper comforts to me. It wasn't like me to sob, or cry, or to even show emotion, but my entire body ached at the sight of him, and I had to react. I tightened my grip on him, afraid he would vanish with the wind.

"Shhhh..." Duo's voice echoed around me and I found myself enthralled through my tears, "Everything'll be fine, Heero."

I didn't remember passing out. When I next awoke, it was to the sound of a coffee maker and the scent pancakes. I had shuffled from the bed I had been occupying towards the tantalizing smell and as my eyes focused on the kitchen before me, everything fell back into place. Duo. Was. Alive. Duo wasn't dead, and I had bawled my eyes out like an infant in his arms.

He stood there, smiling widely and humming as he flipped a pancake and used his foot to close the refrigerator, which he had just snatched a carton of orange juice out of. I blinked, nowhere near as shocked as I should have been. A continued on my trek, my feet landing on a squeaking floorboard. Duo's glowing eyes shot towards me, his smile faltering before being replace by another.

"Hey." Was all he said before going back to the pancakes. I couldn't believe it. We think he's dead and when I find out he isn't, all he says to me is, "Hey." What?

"Duo..." My voice trailed off as I stared at him. He turned to me with a grin on his face as he carried a plate of pancakes to the table between us, and he placed them down before rushing back to the kitchen to retrieve syrup and the orange juice. The coffee machine beeped, and he prepared that, too.

"Sit down, Heero!" He chirped, placing a cup of coffee on the table where I moved to sit. He followed his own advise and sat across from me, still smiling.

"Duo... you..."

"Died?"

"Yeah."

"Yep. I did die. It hurt like a bitch, too."

I stared at him. He just said he had died. Duo never lied. It couldn't be true. "But... you're not dead, Duo."

"I was." He smirked at my dumbfounded expression, "I just wasn't meant to be dead. Pissed my mom off that I'd died -- Again. You'd think that after the 2nd time I'd learn to stay away from life threatening situations! Well, I guess I'll never learn!"

"W-what?"

He grinned at me and began to eat his pancakes.

**A/N**: Okay. That's the first part. Wow. Can anyone believe I actually WROTE this? It's totally out there. I actually have this planned, (to some degree) and written out to about the 3rd chapter or so. Next chapter is a LONG one with shifting views. It'll explain… stuff. Heh. I'm gonna get pelted with shit for leaving off there, aren't I?


	2. Chapter 2

**Title**: Organic

**Author**: HeeroDuo1x2x1

**Rating**: PG-13 for now, rating may go up.

**Genre**: Hmmm… Supernatural, Semi-Angst

**Warnings**: Random 1x2ishness (not quite yet, however), death, cursing (no one cares about that, though…), eventual shounen ai/yaoi, and…. Stuff?

**Pairings**: Oooo! Eventually 1x2x1, implied 3x4, implied 6x5. laughs That's funny, since that's not for this chapter.

**Disclaimer**: Not mine, don't sue, go the fuck away. Yeah, Duo's really alive, but then he really was dead, and I actually confused myself with this one when I first wrote it. Yay!

Heero stared at Duo, his eyes asking questions of the eating teen. He couldn't tear his eyes away from him, not understanding his previous statement. His mom? Dying again? These words echoed hollowly through his numb mind.

"Duo, what's going on?" Heero had to know, "What really happened to you? I saw your corpse. Hell, I dragged you out of there! How did you die, get buried, and now suddenly are alive?!"

Duo raised an eyebrow, his expression suddenly eerily serious as he leaned back in his chair. His eyes seemed to be glowing much brighter, "Do you really want to know?"

"Yes."

"Fine." Duo muttered, leaning forward. Any humour the teen had once possessed was gone, instead replaced by someone frighteningly serious, "Just so you're not confused, Yuy, I hadn't faked my death. I hadn't pretended to die just to get away from anyone. I really died that day. A normal person couldn't've taken that many shots and lived longer than an hour. I was lucky and died within a few minutes."

He paused, examining Heero's blank expression. He sighed before continuing, "I wasn't concerned with it. If I die, I die. It isn't a big deal. Quatre would probably shriek and say something about all life being important and that it should never be wasted in vain.

"Well, my life wouldn't be wasted because, dammit, I'd still be alive anyway." He sipped his coffee, "I said a normal person would have died within the hour. I'm not normal. Never was, probably never will be.

"My entire life I called myself the "God of Death." Funny thing about that is that it wasn't that far from the truth. No, I wasn't the _real_ God of Death. I just happened to be her son." he saw the expression on Heero's face change drastically, and he shot him a look urging him not to interrupt, "I never knew it. Didn't know why every time I thought I was dead, I wasn't. On L2, when the plagues fucked everyone up and the vaccine was shit, I didn't take any of the medicine. Everyone in my gang did, and they all died. I remember dying, myself. I remember taking a shallow breath and dying. Yet, I woke up the next morning, my eyes a little bit more violet than blue. The next time I had died was shortly after the tragedy at the church I had lived in. I hadn't realized it at the time, but as I had been running towards that stupid mobile suit, my puny brain believing that I was helping the others at the church, I had been shot twice in my chest. Blood was actually seeping into my lungs. After Sister Helen died, I had tried to run away, but I couldn't breathe. I wasn't able to move, and only then did I notice the wound that went straight through both sides of my chest. I was drowning in my own blood, and there was nothing I could do about it. I remember coughing and choking up blood as I tried to breathe, tried to drag air into my body before I lost consciousness. But I couldn't, it was too late to do anything. I was about to die and I knew it."

He stopped talking for a moment, his eyes focusing on the ceiling as he tried to think of what to say next. He glanced at the unruly haired Japanese young man before him, sighing as he leaned forward to rest his head on the table as he finished telling his tale.

"And yet, just like the last time, I awoke the next morning as if nothing had happened. Small areas of puckered flesh were the only reminders of my fatal injuries. My lungs were clear, my mind wasn't slowing to a stop. My eyes were even more violet than before.

"It didn't make sense at first. I mean _really_ didn't make sense. We're talking 'Twilight Zone' shit. I was baffled by it, and thus I called myself Death. Obvious reaction, right?" Duo watched his one man audience nod.

"I knew that I was going to die that day, you know. You probably thought it would be you, but I wasn't going to let that happen. I had a feeling that even if I died, I'd probably wake up the next day. So it didn't matter, either way, right? You guys would've seen me again soon, anyway. I could've just played it off like I'd only been seriously unconscious.

"What I hadn't expected was what actually happened. I didn't wake up immediately. It took a few days, actually. I was dragged to what I assumed at the time was Hell, and felt like shit. Had I just given my life for real? Was I not going to wake up? I was clueless! I had no fucking idea.

"Then this woman comes up to me, and I have no idea what to do. I felt like I was looking into a distorted mirror. She had the exact colour hair as me, same face shape, everything. Her eyes were flawlessly purple, like mine only... not. I wasn't sure what to think." Duo waved his hands, black fingernails glinting in the light flooding in from the window nearby. Heero followed his movement unconsciously, furrowing his brow.

"Turns out, this woman, this distorted reflection, was the fucking Goddess of Death. I don't mean some woman claiming to be a goddess, she was. Her clothes were souls, Heero! Souls! Black spirits swarming around her body like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"I could only stare, you know? And then she opens her mouth, and she starts talking, but it was like listening to all those souls on her talking at once, in nothing more than a whisper. 'Welcome to my empire, my unfortunate son.'" He shook his head and laughed mutely, "She called me her 'unfortunate son.' I had no fucking clue _what_ that meant. No idea at all. And she starts walking away, and I'm walking behind her, casually, comfortably. And then she started explaining it to me. All that shit I didn't get."

Heero opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when he saw the look Duo was giving him. "I was there for only an hour or so, but time moves a whole shitload quicker here than there. The actual time it took for her to explain what had happened to me was about 3 days. By the time I woke up, I was in the fucking coffin on the way to the cemetery. It was extremely weird to be thinking how much I wanted out of that thing, and then to suddenly be standing by the trees, watching my own funeral. I'd never seen anything so fucked up in my life."

Duo suddenly stopped talking, eyeing Heero curiously, expecting a comment, something.

"... What... did she tell you?"

Duo just smirked, leaning back in his chair and yawning, "Well, besides that I'm her son, and that every time I die I become less and less human, not much. She explained exactly how I'd ended up human, shit like that."

Heero's eyes locked onto Duo's, urging him to explain further. Duo complied, "My father was _human_, Heero, so when I was born, I was torn away from my mother and onto the human plain. When my father died, I was supposed to go back, but I didn't. He did something to make sure that I would be able to unless I died -- three times. Pretty fucked up, right?"

Heero mutely nodded, "So, you're some kind of god?"

"Demi-god, I guess. She was kinda avoidant of the titles."

"Why did she let you come back, if you're meant to be there?"

"Because I refused to stay. I didn't want to give you and the others up. I guess I did anyway, ya know? The funeral and all. I'm still dead to you guys." Duo muttered, a humourless smile on his face.

"You're not still dead to me." Heero sighed, "I've seen you a few times in the past few months. I saw you at the funeral. I thought I was losing my mind."

Duo laughed, "Maybe you are. Maybe I am, too. Maybe we both imagined the last 6 months."

"Unlikely, but nice to hope for." Heero mused softly.

"But do you understand now? Why I was so willing to take those bullets?" Duo's face was serious again as he leaned forward, his face only inches from Heero's own.

Heero couldn't move back, his eyes only focusing on the violet orbs before him, "Yeah."

"Good." Duo's simple statement was accompanied by a brush of cool air. Duo's breath was cold. Heero found his eyes widen at this, as they seemed to have done quite a bit in the past few hours or so. Duo only laughed at his expression, standing up and walking around the table to pat Heero on the shoulder. "You're gonna make me tell the others, aren't you?"

"Maybe."

"Just maybe?" Duo questioned.

"Yeah, just maybe." Heero rubbed his face, "If I am finding this hard to digest, the others probably will also. They wouldn't be nearly as calm as I'm trying to be about all this."

"You really don't know what to do right now, do you, Heero?" Duo kneeled down next to Heero, resting his arms on the table as he stared at him with an unwavering gaze.

"Honestly? No." He muttered, running a shaky hand through his unruly hair. He jerked his hand away and stared at it, "I'm shaking."

"I don't blame you." Duo's trademark grin was back in place, "Everything just got a whole lot more complicated."

A/N: Uhhh… yeah. That's chapter 2. It's longer than chapter one. Yaaaaaay!


	3. Chapter 3

**Title**: Organic  
**Author**: Heeroduo1x2x1  
**Genre**: Supernatural, Romance  
**Rating**: PG-13  
**Warnings and Pairings**: Eventual 12, implied 34, implied 65, cursing, shonen ai, stuff.  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own GW. I do own this really weird plot twist and the laptop that I am typing this story on. You can't take either of them from me. blows raspberry.  
**Babble**: I decided to write wonderful chapter 3! Woo-hoo! It's in Heero's POV again, so don't expect any diving into Duo's demented mind thing.

I thought that it was all a dream. Talking to Duo must have been a hallucination. But when I woke in my apartment, Duo laying on the same bed I was on, with his arms wrapped protectively around me, I knew once again that this was not a dream. I stared at him for a moment as he snored softly, thinking, _How could he be related to death? _The idea was slightly inconceivable, yet since it was Duo who said it, I wasn't afraid to believe it.

He snorted in his sleep and I smirked ever-so-slightly. This wasn't a demi-god sent to kill people. This was Duo Maxwell, my friend and comrade. At that point I didn't care if he had been killed, because he wasn't dead. It echoed in my mind for quite a while before I closed my eyes and fell back asleep, not even phased by his tight grip on me.

The next time I awoke, it was to the annoying sound of the phone ringing and Duo snoring. I gently pulled myself from his arms, pondering why I hadn't pushed him off of me immediately, as rushed towards the phone and answered it groggily.

On the vid-screen, Quatre's face appeared looking worried, "Oh, Heero! There you are! I've been trying to get in touch with you for nearly 3 days!"

I arched an eyebrow, "3 days? Doesn't feel like it's been 3 days."

"It has been though!" Quatre's shook his head quickly, "I was trying to get in touch with you to tell you that Lady Une has a -- What is that noise?"

I assumed he was referring to the sound of Duo's snoring. Regretfully, I couldn't really tell him it was Duo. He'd get that worried look, side-step around calling me insane, and then tell me I should come and stay with him and Trowa for a week or so.

"Ugh, Heero, who's on the phone, man?" Duo's voice radiated from the bedroom doorway, and I was sure Quatre could see him fully from the vid-screen's camera.

"Allah, Heero! Th-that looks like…"

"Duo?"

"Yes! What is going on? Duo is dead!" Quatre exclaimed, his eyes examining Duo as he walked closer to me and the phone. Duo had this look on his face, one that screamed out in panic, _Retreat! Retreat! Danger ahead!_ but he just continued walking forward, nodding to me and taking the phone before giving Quatre a wide grin edged with sadness.

"Hey, Quat." Duo said slowly, trying to be as casual as possible. He knew if he acted casual, Quatre would more than likely calm down enough for Duo to explain why he was standing in my living room, _alive_. And explain he did, his story the same as it was 3 days earlier.

Quatre took it much better than anticipated and informed us that he would catch the first shuttle to Earth from L4. In the meantime, Duo and I were not to leave each other's sight. I found that I had no problem with this. I never wanted Duo to be away from me again, especially after everything that had happened. I know that it was a lousy way to explain it, but it was the only way I could think to. Amazingly, even I didn't know why. I'd found myself extremely relieved whenever I saw Duo's smile. I constantly asked myself why I felt this way, but I could never come up with a reliable reason.

"So, what're we gonna do until Q-ball gets here?" Duo asked nearly 6 hours after Quatre's phone call. He was sitting on the couch upside-down, his legs dangling over the back and his hair hanging onto the floor. His unnervingly amethyst eyes were focused on me, and he had an expression of complete relaxation on his face. Something about him sitting this way made my chest constrict and my heart ache so much that for a split second I thought I was having a heart attack. However, after a few moments I realized this was impossible, considering I was entirely healthy and had no heart problems. So what was it? I didn't know, but I wasn't going to dwell upon it. Instead, I stored it away for later study.

"I haven't thought about it."

"Whoa, that's definitely not like you." He waved his braid at me, "You used to plan everything out from the moment it came up."

"People change." I deadpanned, leaning back against the couch I was on without removing my eyes from Duo's ethereal face.

"Well, I'd say it's a change for the better. Maybe you'll chill out." Duo mused.

He didn't know what caused that change. "Duo, even if the change was for the best, do you know what caused it? What caused me to no longer be concerned with such pettiness as perfect plans?"

If Duo didn't know before, he knew now. I could look at him and tell. He knew that when he had died, it made me realize that no matter how long I sit and plan, something can always go wrong. It made me open to being spontaneous, because that was how I thought he had survived before. I thought the constant planning was what got him killed. He sighed and looked away from me. "Open mouth, insert foot, eh?"

I chuckled darkly, "Maybe both of us should."

"Yeah."

We sat in silence for an unknown amount of time, Duo still hanging off the couch and me sitting with a pillow clutched to my chest. I was becoming quite uncomfortable in that silence, and found myself staring up at the ceiling when I felt Duo suddenly sit down next to me. I glanced quickly at him, wondering what was on his mind.

Seeing my curiosity, he grinned, "Well, why don't we go and rent movie? Q said not to leave each other's sight, but he said nothing about leaving the apartment."

I quirked an eyebrow, nodding slightly. That seemed to be enough of an answer for him, because the next thing I knew he had grabbed my arm and was dragging me towards the front door. "Duo!"

"What?"

"I'm barefoot."

"Oh." He grinned lopsidedly, letting go of me long enough for me to slip on my sneakers before he snatched me again and continued on towards the door.

We returned to my apartment nearly an hour later, with a bag of movies (7, to be exact) and another filled to the brim with candy and movie snacks that Duo had insisted on buying. The moment we walked in the door, things somehow felt almost normal and I found myself almost forgetting the miserable six months prior.

Instantly upon entering, Duo rushed to the television and began fiddling with it, putting the first movie in and plopping down on the couch all in one fluid motion. His motions were flawless, almost calculated, which served as my reminder that he wasn't even human. I sat lightly on the opposite side of the couch, leaning over and snatching a bag of cookie dough bites from Duo's stash in the center of the cushions. No one knew, but I had a mild obsession with certain candies, Cookie Dough Bites being at the forefront of that list (which included anything chocolate and Gummi Bears.) As I opened the box, Duo gave me an amused look and turned the movie on.

"Which one is this?" I asked as the opening credits began to roll.

"The first Lord of the Rings." Duo answered gleefully, and I blinked. I had never seen the movies, and simply shrugged before turning back to watch.

By the time we reached the third movie, Duo was half on and half off of me. About halfway through The Two Towers, he had decided to stretch out, resting his legs on my lap. He did this, of course, without asking my opinion on the matter. Strangely enough, that simple contact caused the constriction from before to return even stronger.

Duo shifted slightly and I realized I had been running a hand over one of his legs unconsciously. I quickly removed my hand.

"Hey, I was enjoying that leg massage!" Duo exclaimed, glancing at me with a wide smile on his face.

I chuckled softly, wondering why my face felt so warm, "Whatever."

**A/N**: Well then, that was chapter 3 of Organic. I have a few more chapters to go and I know exactly what I want to do with them. Amazing. Well, all my inspiration is focused on this story at the moment, and the others have kind of faded to second, especially Wise Blood. I've lost the juice for it. But, who knows. Maybe once this one is finished, I'll be back on track with WB too. Thanks for reading, now I want you to review!! XD (Chapter is being posted at the same time!)


	4. Chapter 4

**Title**: Organic  
**Author**: Heeroduo1x2x1  
**Genre**: Supernatural, Romance  
**Rating**: PG-13  
**Warnings and Pairings**: Eventual 12, implied 34, implied 65, cursing, shonen ai, stuff.  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own GW. I do own this really weird plot twist and the laptop that I am typing this story on. You can't take either of them from me. blows raspberry.  
**Babble**: This chapter is in Heero's POV. I like writing his POV better for stories like this, because I see him as someone who thinks and writes in a wordy manner. I write Duo as being kinda sarcastic and laid-back, which definitely doesn't fit with this story much. So, anyway, on with the chapter!!

Quatre held his hands tightly in his lap as he asked Duo to explain his situation - for the ninth time. Duo groaned and opened his mouth to explain yet again.

I sighed, cutting Duo off and looking at Quatre, "He was dead. His mother is Death. He decided he wanted to come back to us rather than stay with her. He came back from the dead during his funeral and realized what was going on. He stayed away from us. I found him at the cemetery lounging on his grave. _How_ it that hard to get the first time he explained it?" I knew I was being unreasonable and rude, but I was getting irritable listening to Quatre ask the same question repeatedly. My outburst was uncharacteristic, yes, but even I have a point at which I get so annoyed I want to yell at someone.

Duo smirked and quickly gripped my shoulder to keep from laughing and Quatre simply looked shocked and began counting how many words I had said. I'm fairly certain I said 63 words. "Geez, Heero. That was completely unexpected."

I took a deep breath and buried my head in my hands, "Sorry. I'm just not feeling well." It wasn't far from the truth. I felt tired, cold. I wasn't quite sure what was making me feel that way. It was as much of a mystery as my unexplainable reactions to physical contact from Duo. I was, at the time, completely oblivious to what it meant.

Quatre's expression went from shock to concern within a single second, "You should rest, Heero. You actually don't look too well."

"I think I will." I stood from my place on the couch and headed towards my bedroom, giving the two of them a small half-smile. It was the closest to a real smile I could provide.

As I closed my door, I heard Duo's voice faintly as he told Quatre he was going to rest as well. I supposed he told him to go ahead back to his hotel. I wasn't really coherent by the time I sat on my bed. I didn't know why I was so tired suddenly, why I went from being irritated and angry to exhausted.

"Listen to each drop of rain  
Whispering secrets in rain  
Frantically searching for someone to hear  
That story be more than it hides  
Please don't let go  
Can't we stay for a while?  
It's just to hard to say goodbye  
Listen to the rain" (1)

I had never heard the song before, but it echoed through my subconscious as I drifted off to sleep.

I woke up later the next day to the sound of talking. I couldn't quite grasp what had happened the day before, my mind strangely muddled from exhaustion. I couldn't remember, no matter hard I tried, what had happened after I closed my door, but I remembered the song clearly, the crisp dictation of the lyrics and the tone of the voice. It was sad, but had this hopeful sound to it. What amazed me even more about it was the fact that I didn't actually hear it. Not in the traditional sense, at least. It was almost like wearing headphones, the sound only heard close by, almost as if it really is simply in your head. Only this song truly was in my mind. Some part of me was aware that the room was completely empty and silent despite the music.

I sighed, shaking my head of the thoughts before exiting the room to see Duo talking to Quatre. They looked up as I entered, both offering bright smiles that nearly made my head hurt.

"'Morning, sunshine!" Duo exclaimed happily, and I cringed slightly.

"Can you not be so perky? Please?" I muttered, shuffling into kitchen and searching for means to make coffee (another of my secret addictions, aside from candy.) Although it shouldn't of surprised me, seeing that someone (I immediately guessed Duo) had already made coffee made my morning irritability to diminish slightly. I yawned as I poured myself a cup of the dark liquid, shuffling into the dining area to sit at the table next to Duo and across from Quatre, who were still talking. I was ignoring them, still unable to formulate a single coherent thought. Their words sounded like static to me, and I tried my best to block it out. No matter how hard I tried to block them out, bits of what they were saying passed through. Apparently, Quatre had gotten passed the shock of Duo's current situation, and had moved on to "catching up" mode. In other words, they were talking about absolutely nothing, except perhaps how Quatre's sisters were and what the weather was like in Death's realm.

"Heero?" Quatre's voice managed to squirm it's way into my thought stream, and I turned to glare at him with half-lidded eyes.

"Hn?" I grunted, taking a sip of the coffee.

"I'd like it if the two of you came back to L4 with me, just for a few days." Quatre's voice was far away.

"Hn." The wonders of the grunt, it can be interpreted many ways. For example, I meant nothing by that particular grunt. However, both Quatre and Duo assumed it to be a "Sure! Let's go!" because the next thing I knew, Duo was yet again dragging me towards some door or another. This time, it turned out to be my bedroom. Immediately, Duo decided to take things upon himself and began packing some of my clothes into a duffle bag that I didn't even know I had. I blinked, snatching a pair of jeans and a sweater from his rabid packing and began getting dressed, really not caring that Duo was in the room. "Why are you packing my things?"

"I dunno. Because I feel like it?" He grinned, "Don't complain! Deal with it! Get your laptop and be happy!"

And I did just that.

**A/N**:

(1) Does anyone know this song? It's a choir song, but I've got it on a burnt CD and can't figure out what the song is called. I think it's called "Listen." But it's so beautiful, I adore it. I'm actually listening to it right now. (I.e. as I'm writing this I'm suffering from insomnia and I'm hoping maybe the song will help me sleep. It's not. I just wanna sing along to it now. Or make Duo and Heero fuck like rabbits. Which I can't, since this story will remain PG-13 even if it kills me. XD)

Wow. I've made Heero completely OOC. But that's okay. I like my OOC Hee-chan. He makes me wanna giggle cuz he's soooo not a morning person. I'm liking how this is turning out. And by the time this chapter is up, I'll already be working on the next. Maybe. If your lucky. Sorry. You've read it, now review it! XD


	5. Chapter 5

**Title**: Organic

**Author**: Heeroduo1x2x1

**Genre**: Supernatural, Romance

**Rating**: PG-13

**Warnings and Pairings**: Eventual 12, implied 34, implied 65, cursing, shonen ai, stuff.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own GW. I do own this really weird plot twist and the laptop that I am typing this story on. You can't take either of them from me. :blows raspberry.:

**Babble**: Yet again with the Hee-chan chapter. I really do enjoy writing in his perspective. He may be my new favourite character! Maybe. If he's lucky.

There was a knife in my stomach, and it was twisting, turning, wedging itself deeper into the susceptible flesh of my abdomen. I cried out against my will, biting my lip to keep from making another sound. My attacker made a sound like a laugh, but I couldn't see him. He shoved another knife into my shoulder doing the same there as he had done elsewhere. I could almost see his wide grin as he twisted it…

I awoke with a start, nearly knocking my laptop onto the floor of the shuttle. I blinked, looking around slowly before I completely understood where I was. Duo and Quatre sat on either side of me, one listening to music and the other sleeping calmly. I ran a hand through my bangs, glancing over at Duo as he bounced his head to the music radiating from his headphones. He looked silly doing that, but it somehow fit with him. I think I may have smiled ever-so-slightly. He looked out of place on the shuttle, his eyes too bright and his hair too perfect.

"Hey, buddy. When'd you wake up?" I hadn't even noticed when Duo removed his headphones and turned to face me, glowing amethyst eyes grinning just as much as the rest of his face.

I shrugged, "Just a minute ago."

"You were having a nightmare." He said simply, tilting his head slightly.

"What makes you think that?" I wasn't about to admit that I had, indeed, had a nightmare.

"You were whimpering in your sleep." He paused, "Really softly, but I could hear you, even through the headphones. I doubt anyone else heard you, though. D'ya wanna tell me about it?"

I stared at him, pondering whether or not I wanted to spill my guts to him. The answer was, strangely enough, an immediate yes, "I was being tortured, stabbed repeatedly in the stomach, shoulders and legs. Whoever was attacking me was twisting the knives around in the wounds."

"I've had dreams like that before. They always creep me out." The way Duo said this made me completely trust his word. I believed, without a doubt, that he had endured nightmares similar to mine. I offered him a half-smile and he returned it full force.

"Duo?"

"What's up?"

"Why were you there that day?" I wasn't quite sure what propelled me to ask him this, why I even needed to know. In fact, I wasn't even sure he knew what day I was talking about.

He looked taken aback by my question and it was obvious he had to think about his answer. "I really don't know. I guess I had figured it was the only way to be close to you and the others. You know, to be someplace that you'd been to recently, to be able to say we still had that in common."

"You didn't know I was going to show up when I did."

"No. I figured you'd already left." He shook his head and smiled sadly, pausing before adding, "Actually, that's not entirely true. I didn't know either way whether you had been there or not. A part of me wanted you to show up."

I nodded, my eyes locking on him for what felt like forever. For whatever reason, he had chosen that particular day to view his own "grave," and I just happened to have been held up by Relena's phone calls long enough that when I arrived at the cemetery, Duo was there. I wasn't one to believe in fate or destiny, but with that situation, even coincidence seemed too far-fetched even for me. Even I saw that day as an act of fate.

"What brought that up?"

"I don't know. Curiosity, I suppose." I shrugged as I leaned down to retrieve my laptop from the floor.

"Oh, that's all?" Duo's response was simple and seemed as though he was hoping my reason for asking was different. He smiled slightly, glancing around me and towards the shuttle window and Quatre. "Well, in other news, we've been in space for about two hours now. We should be to L4 soon, right?"

I nodded slowly, "Yeah. No more than another hour and a half."

"Cool. Hey, how do you think Trowa and Fei will take seeing me again?" Duo seemed past being apparently disappointed.

"Wufei will probably get a nosebleed and yell at you, while I assume Trowa will stare for a moment before blinking and walking away." I deadpanned, marginally amazed at my prediction. Honestly, I had no idea how they would react. I wasn't eager to find out, and found that I wished Quatre hadn't found out. I wanted to be the only one with any contact with Duo. It was selfish, but it was the thought dominating my mind from the moment I saw him sitting on that grave.

Duo laughed jovially, leaning back in his seat and grinning, "I really wouldn't be surprised if Trowa did that. But, you know, I more see Fei as the kind of person who would rant about how there's a trick being played on him. And then he'd go and get drunk."

I blinked, "I can't see Wufei in that situation."

"Yeah, me neither," Duo said, and I raised an eyebrow. He laughed again, "But you gotta admit, it would be funny."

Quatre let out a little snore.

**A/N**: I know, I know, this is a really uneventful chapter. I'm sorry! It's one of those damn annoying transition chapters. You know, the ones were the characters just talk or move to a different location? Yeah. That's what this is. Did you know I wrote this chapter 3 times before deciding on this version? Version one was a lemon. Chapters 3 and 4 were written 3 times too. Version one of 3 and 4 lead up to a lemon. Now I've decided to hold off on that in this fic. I'd rather keep this at PG-13, for now. Maybe one day that'll change. But for now…. It's lemon free. XD Gawd, I'm so annoying when it comes to these notes! I just keep on and on! Oo Oh, and.. I know what that song is now!! Woo-hoo!! Listen to the Rain, Evanescence!! Woo-hoo!! Oo

Thankies Reviewers!!

**Drew** - Wow. You reviewed A LOT! XD Thanks so very much! LoTR is amazing and tends to make an appearance in all my new stories (which will probably never be up, lol) I'm glad you enjoyed it! (P.S. I did figure it out, about the song, lol. Hurray for Google! I'm also listening to the LoTR soundtrack right now. Into the West!)

**Onee-sama** - Wow, you reviewed a lot too!! You'll just have to wait and find out! All shall be revealed!!!!

**Raisha Bregail** - Thankies!

**ZmajGoddess** - I thought it was, lol.

**Black-Angel-001** - Glad the OOCness doesn't bug ya.

**Ahanchan** - Meh, snow… cringes Too cold, na no da!! You can throw rocks, though! Here's the update!

**Ayani323** - Oo Did you only read the first chapter?

**Nikkler** - I must fight the urge!!!! XD

**slipknotrulez** - Update I have!

**ShitaeTenshi** - Thanks for the kind words! I'll try my best, lol.

**Fiery-icicles** - Eventually, maybe. If you're lucky. XD

**Hells-angel8** - The muses have sung. Except they were really off pitch and noted badly. Oo Right. XD This is insane, lol.


	6. Chapter 6

**Title**: Organic

**Author**: Heeroduo1x2x1

**Genre**: Supernatural, Romance

**Rating**: PG-13

**Warnings and Pairings**: Eventual 12, implied 34, implied 65, cursing, shonen ai, stuff.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own GW. I do own this really weird plot twist and the laptop that I am typing this story on. You can't take either of them from me. blows raspberry.

**Babble**: Evil cackle Heero is mine, all mine!! Muwhahahahaha!! I've decided not to bash Relena in this, officially. I will permit the Gundam boys to make fun of her twice each, but then they have to be nice. So sayeth the Rabid Weasel! Hoo-woo!

I had only been at Quatre's for a few hours, but I already wanted to either leave very quickly or blow it up. I suppose I was mostly just upset that Duo wasn't spending every moment with me, which was quite irrational considering that I wasn't the only person around. However, it still managed to bother me immensely, and I couldn't grasp why. I knew I wasn't noticing something very important.

When we had arrived, no one had been at Quatre's abnormally large estate, aside from a few individuals whom I assumed were always on the premise. Quatre then informed us that the others weren't to arrive until the next day, and honestly didn't know about recent events. I had retreated almost instantly to my room, since Duo had taken up an animated conversation with an unnervingly tall man.

The room had one overly extravagant four-poster bed, and I was thankful for the soft down mattress the moment I sat down on it. I was amazingly tired, and all thoughts of blowing up Quatre's mansion faded as my mind became muddled. I blinked a few times, trying to clear the murkiness from my head, when I heard a soft tapping on the door.

"What?" I mumbled, laying back on the mattress and staring up at the canopy above the bed. The door creaked open, and I glanced up to see Duo standing there, a grin on his face.

"Hey, buddy." He said softly, padding over towards my bed and sitting on the edge. "I thought I'd stay up here with you. That's okay, right?"

I nodded, sitting up slowly. I stretched my arms over my head as I said, "It's fine."

"Great!" his eyes glowed in the dimly lit room cheerfully, and I found myself getting dizzy again. It must have shown, as the next thing I knew Duo was urging me to lay down, saying I didn't look very well. He was even more concerned, I suppose, when I agreed with him and promptly curled up under the blankets.

"I'll stay in here tonight, okay?" Duo's voice was a whisper as he put his hand to my forehead. I suppose he was attempting to check for a fever.

"Hmm… why am I so tired…?" I found myself nodding, blinking slowly.

He sounded concerned, "I don't know, but try to get some sleep."

"Yeah." I mumbled incoherently as I felt Duo lay down on the bed next to me, his body curled up against my back. He was warm, and I was trying to get closer to him unconsciously. I vaguely heard him chuckle before feeling his arms snake around my waist cautiously.

Then all was darkness.

I awoke the next day, oddly disappointed when I noticed that Duo had already gotten up. I shook it off, wondering why that would bother me. I stood and stretched, feeling rested and calm. After quickly getting dressed, I left my room and headed downstairs towards the kitchen. Despite the fact I wasn't exhausted, I hadn't given up my need of coffee. The kitchen was like the rest of the house -- uselessly large. I glared at it momentarily before yawning and looking around for coffee or someone who knew where I could get the magnificent bitter liquid. The only person in the kitchen, to my amazement, was Relena. Hoping she hadn't noticed me, I slowly backed towards the door.

However, my escape route was blocked as Quatre entered the kitchen, "Oh, Heero, there you are."

I winced as he spoke, watching in very well contained horrour as Relena turned towards us. "Heero!"

I sighed, glaring at Quatre slightly, "Good morning, Quatre." I turned towards Relena, feeling the need to twitch but refusing to do so, "Hello, Miss Peacecraft."

I wasn't going to be casual with her. I refused to be casual with her.

"Oh, Heero, you know you can call me Relena."

"I'd rather not." I deadpanned, not wanting to be having a conversation with her. Perhaps someday I would consider her a "friend," but as it stood, she was only a person I didn't really want to see. Especially since it was 7:21 AM and she was wearing a horrendous pink outfit that made my head ache uncontrollably.

Quatre seemed to feel my annoyance with her, and excused the two of us and ushered me into an adjoining room, "I'm so sorry, Heero! I had to ask her to come. She was at the funeral too, and at least deserved to know Duo was with us again."

I glared at him, snarling, "A simple phone call would have done wonders." He looked taken aback and slightly frightened, and I sighed, "I just don't feel like dealing with her. It's nothing against you, Quatre. I suppose you did what you had to."

He nodded timidly and I sighed again, "Well, I'll go and tell her you're not feeling well today, alright?"

I nodded, "Fine."

"Oh, Duo went out and bought coffee this morning. He brought you back some." Quatre paused, "I think he's in the den."

Again, I nodded, "Thank you." before starting for the den.

Sure enough, when I entered the tastefully decorated room, the first thing I noticed was Duo listening to music on his headphones and the large containers of coffee on the table. When I had grabbed the cup with an "H" on it, Duo had decided to take that moment to start singing along to whatever song he was listening to. I quirked an eyebrow, sitting on the couch and watching him sing and dance around the room. His antics brought a small smile to my face.

By the time he noticed me, I had finished my coffee and was preparing to go. His eyes had widened to an unfathomable degree and he pulled his headphones off quickly, "Hee-chan, man, how long have you been sitting there?!"

I glanced at my watch, "Approximately 56 minutes and 19 seconds."

"And you just let me make a fool of myself?" Duo looked mortified.

"I thought it was rather interesting. Besides, I'm the only one in here." I shrugged, that small smile from before tugging at my lips ever-so-slightly.

He looked around, "I guess so… but still… you could have made a loud noise to let me know you were there."

"And miss that performance?" I ran a hand through my bangs. "That was more amusing than listening to Relena."

"Queen 'Lena's here?" Duo's embarrassment faded to shock.

"Quatre told her to come." I muttered.

"What, and you're not happy?"

I glared at him, "Why would I be happy that she's here?"

Duo blinked, "I guess I just thought you and her were, well, close."

"No. Never." For some odd reason, the idea of Relena and I being together in any way, shape or form didn't appeal to me. At all.

"Never?" It may have been my mind playing tricks on me, but he sounded relieved as he said this.

"Never." I repeated, standing from the couch and walking towards Duo, "Thanks for getting coffee."

He nodded, an expression I wasn't familiar with covering his face. "You're welcome, man. So… when do you think the others will be here?"

I shrugged, "I would assume this afternoon, but I honestly have no idea. Are you nervous?"

He laughed, "Scared shitless."

"Hn."

"Yeah, Heero, 'hn.'" Duo nodded solemnly, and I smirked.

**A/N**: Wow, this chapter came much differently then I thought it would. I thought I'd fit getting the other pilots in, but I was wrong! :cries: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'm too lazy to respond them all right now, but I want to especially thank Drew! YOU'VE REVIEWED EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY STORIES!! (Even that crappy one I wrote in 7th grade.) THANKS SO MUCH! You get a cactus cookie!!!!!!!! :hands you a cactus cookie: Oo


	7. Chapter 7

Title: Organic  
Author: HeeroDuo1x2x1 (AKA The Rabid Pissed off Weasel)  
Genre: Supernatural, Romance  
Rating: PG-13  
Warnings and Pairings: Eventual 1+2, implied 3+4, implied 6+5, cursing, shonen ai, stuff  
Disclaimer: Owning of the GWness is not mine. Regretfully. However, I do own this plot twist and story, and anyone who even thinks of taking it without my permission gets shot by a pissed off Weasel, (i.e., me.)  
Babble: Amazing, I made it to chapter 7! Oh, the joys! Right-o . Finally, the part you were all waiting for (and the part I was dreading to write)! The others' reactions to seeing Duo alive, well, and standing right in front of them! Hurray! I'm gonna get pelted with rotten veggies! (P.S. It's chapter 7 and I still don't have a stable plot. How sucky.)

As soon as the doorbell rang, announcing that Trowa and Wufei had arrived, Duo had bolted for the stairs, in hopes of putting off the meeting for as long as possible. I sighed, walking at a leisurely pace towards the stairs after him, pausing when I saw that the other two ex-pilots had entered the foyer. Trowa caught my eye for a moment, and I nodded to him before walking up the stairs and into my room.

I knew that was were Duo had decided to take shelter, but was still mildly surprised when I walked in to see him sitting on my bed. Not only was he just sitting there, but he also seemed to have pulled himself as close to the wall as possible.

"Duo, you're going to need to go downstairs eventually." I sat down next to him.

"Yeah, but I think I'll wait until later, ya know?" He looked panicked as he said this, "I didn't think at first what coming here meant."

"I'll be with you, and wouldn't it be better for you to simply get this out of the way?" I reasoned, unconsciously reaching out and squeezing his hand. His skin was cold again, and I furrowed my eyebrows, still not quite sure why.

"I guess, but…" he trailed off.

"But what?"

"What if they don't take it very well? What if they think I'm a zombie or something?" He exclaimed, sandwiching my hand between his. My chest constricted slightly before loosening

"Zombies eat human flesh. I haven't seen you eat human flesh." I mused, and he looked as though he was going to fall over.

"I didn't mean that literally." Duo muttered, leaning forward and resting his head on my shoulder. My stomach lurched and I refrained from taking a deep breath. Even that simple contact made all my senses go insane, and I jerkily lifted an arm to place around Duo. His head rose slightly as he turned to glance at me, eyes curious. I removed my arm, slowly, thinking that he didn't want it there.

So, you can imagine my surprise when he pulled my arms around his waist before sliding his own arms around my shoulders. I blinked, amazed at how my entire body still tingled at his closeness. He lifted his head and stared at me for a moment, and I stared right back. I had a strange urge, one that I'd never felt before. I couldn't describe it even if I had been so inclined to, and I didn't fight it. I felt separated from my body, felt like I was watching as I slowly lowered my face towards Duo; I felt like I was watching from somewhere else as he lifted his face towards mine.

Our lips were less than an inch apart when someone began knocking extremely loudly against the door. I gasped, and we tore apart, my eyes wide and shocked. Duo's expression mirrored my own, and I stumbled off and away from the bed.

"Heero? Have you seen Duo? I think now's a good time for him to go down." Quatre's voice came from the hallway, and I took a deep breath before opening the door slightly.

"He's in here. We'll be down in a minute, alright?" I said, careful to keep my face and voice expressionless. Quatre nodded, hurrying back downstairs. I shut the door and turned around, sliding down to sit on the floor.

"What just happened?" I whispered, running a hand through my hair.

"Quatre just tol-"

"Not that." I cut Duo off mid-sentence, staring at him for a moment before shaking my head, "Nevermind. Let's just go downstairs."

I stood, not looking at him. I had nearly kissed Duo, and that confused me. Why, of almost an endless number of possibilities, did I choose that? It didn't hit me until I watched Duo walk past me and out the door, his eyes lowered to the ground. I hadn't expected it.

I spared the room one more look before following Duo out of the room.

When I walked into the kitchen, it was to the sight of Trowa looking as though he wanted to go check himself into an asylum and to Wufei ranting and raving, claiming that Duo was really some look alike. Relena, it seemed, had already fainted and was being carried from the room by that unnervingly tall man from the day before. I was thankful she had changed into something with less pink as well as the fact she was unconscious.

Duo turned to me, his eyes as frantic as they had been before. He looked like he wanted to run. Despite my revelation, I gave him the most encouraging look I could and came to stand next to him, feeling oddly awkward. I ignored it.

"This is impossible, don't you get it?" Wufei exclaimed, shooting up from his chair and marching toward Duo with an intent look on his face, "He can't be alive! This has to be some kind of trick!"

He reached to snatch Duo's arm, but I shoved myself in between the two, a glare fixed on my face. "You haven't given him a chance to explain, have you?"

"We don't need to! This can't be him, Yuy! What part of that is hard to understand?" As Wufei said this, I felt Duo grip my arm firmly, pushing me slightly. I moved away.

"Dammit, Wufei! Just shut the fuck up!" Duo shouted, his frantic expression fading to exasperation, "I should have known this was gonna be a bad idea. But no, I thought you guys would be _happy_ I'm not rotting in the dirt. Why don't you believe it's really me?"

His voice was despondent, and the glare I had fixated on Wufei deepened.

"Duo is dead. People do not come back from the dead." Wufei hissed, turning to me, "Why do you believe he is who he says he is?"

"Why aren't you willing to at least hear him out?" I had anticipated the question and shot back a question of my own.

Wufei took a step back, narrowing his eyes at me before crossing his arms with a huff, "Fine. I'll listen to what 'Duo' has to say."

Trowa, who had been silent since Duo and I had walked in, finally spoke, "He isn't lying." His eyes, I noticed, were locked onto Duo, examining further than just the exterior. Wufei glanced at Trowa with surprise before nodding stiffly and sitting down on one of the couches. I sighed with relief.

"Explain." Wufei snapped.

And for the eleventh time that week, Duo began to do just that.

"Well, That was positively disastrous." Duo muttered later that night. Shortly after defending himself against Wufei's barrage of disbelief, Duo had retreated as far away from the others as possible. I had obviously followed him, knowing full well that him wanting to get away from the others didn't include me.

"It went better than you thought, didn't it?"

"Oh, definitely. But it was still a load of bullshit." He sighed, violet eyes glimmering like jewels in the tint-less light of my bedroom.

"I nearly punched Wufei."

"You should have."

I let out a dark chuckle and leaned on a post of my bed. I almost wished I had, if only to knock some sense into his head. However, as I thought about it, I realized that this was all quite unbelievable, and Wufei's reaction was really very understandable. The only reason I hadn't reacted the same way was because I desperately wanted Duo to honestly be there.

Duo threw himself bonelessly onto my bed, an unreadable expression on his face. I was suddenly reminded of earlier that day, my mind shoving the image of his face only centimetres from mine into my thoughts. I tried to shake them off, but they plagued me and no amount of mental coaxing could make them go away. I sighed, sitting down next to Duo and leaning against his side, ignoring the realization that now I knew why I'd felt so off-balance around him, why I'd been so eager to believe he really was himself. That realization of admiration, of love, was the reason why Wufei's disbelief angered me so much.

I felt his arms slowly snake around me, and I couldn't help the awkwardness that rose in my chest as I responded by wrapping my arms around his waist. "I'm sorry, Heero."

I hadn't realized my eyes were closed until I opened them to glance at Duo, "Why are you apologizing?"

"I didn't want to drag you into this. Hell, I wasn't even supposed to come near any of you. Dammit, Heero." He sighed and pulled away from me, sitting up and vaulting over me. Staring at him, Duo began pacing. "I have to go, Heero. I have to get out of here."

My eyes instinctively widened and I pulled myself up, closing the small distance between Duo and I, "No."

"What? Heero, I have to leave. This is gonna drive me insane." His amethyst eyes dimmed.

"Then I'm coming with you."

Duo blinked, "Heero… I'm going back."

I took a step back, falling onto the bed. I knew what he meant, and I hated even the thought of it.

"No, no, no, no. Please, no. Not again." I'd never begged before, I'd never even considered it. But I refused to let him leave, to go back to that dead place. I refused to let him abandon us - me - again, so soon after having learned that he wasn't as dead as we had thought. I wasn't going to let him say goodbye.

He gave me a sad look, and before I could even process it, he vanished. I stared at where he had stood and felt like I was choking. I should have told him. I should have told him that somewhere between him dying and us arriving on L4, I had fallen in love with him.

Now I didn't know if I'd ever see him again.

A/N: Right. It's an update. A fun, kinda miserable update. I've come to realize I'm not very good at this writing bit, but meh. I'm trying. But, all self-degradation behind, this is an okay chapter. Better than I thought it would be, at least. Anyway, I'm still adjusting to country life (double wide on a sand hill, beyotch! XD), so the next chapters for this, WB, Ashes and Cloves and any other story I decide to update will be sporadic and not anytime soon. I'm aiming for the beginning of May for my next update, mainly because I think my brain may be working again by then. I'm such a procrastinator. :sweatdrops: P.S. This is one of the longest chapter of this fic yet :Gasp: Hurray! 1933 words! (whoa! That's almost 2000!) Thanks to all those who reviewed::heart:


	8. Chapter 8

**Title**: Organic  
**Author**: HeeroDuo1x2x1  
**Genre**: Supernatural, Romance  
**Rating**: PG-13 (T)  
**Warnings**: Angst, shit, OOCness out the yang, shifting POVs, and stuff. (My muse loves angst and Pocky, so that's what she makes me write about... the angst, not the Pocky.)  
**Pairings**: If you've been reading this far and haven't figured this out yet... :sighs: I fear for your future.  
**Disclaimer**: How 'bout this? I don't own Gundam Wing. Yep. That's the truth.

Chapter 8

Heero's POV

I should have told him I loved him the moment I realised it. But I didn't. I put it off and wasted my opportunity. He left, back to that dead place. I was alone, pounding my fists against the hardwood floor in anguish. I was regretting not fighting more to keep him here, for not doing more to stop him. I was beating myself up for hoping it wouldn't hurt. He hadn't even been gone an hour, but the pain was unbearable and I felt myself gag through my withheld tears. I shouldn't have let myself become so dependent on his renewed presence over the days prior. I shouldn't have been so weak.

But thinking of the "shouldn't haves" and "should haves" wouldn't change anything. It didn't change the fact that I was still at Quatre's Irish estate in that same room, with the same curtains letting the minute sunset shine through. I pounded my fist again on the floor, letting out a sob. I hated this feeling, this feeling of being unable to control myself. What was worse, was it had become so common over those few days. I couldn't believe it hadn't even been a full week since Duo told me what had happened, couldn't believe that it only took six days for my entire world to go through the blender, and I didn't think I'd ever be whole again.

I continued pounding on the floor until the others came and stormed into the room. What a sight it must have been, seeing my form on the floor trying to either break my hand or tear a hole in the floor. Wufei and Trowa's expressions betrayed nothing, with the exception of a bit of shock, but Quatre had shifted from annoyance at the noise to utter concern and confusion. He was at my side in an instant.

"Heero! What happened? Where's Duo?" He was frantic, aquamarine eyes flashing in the almost-dark of the room. I slammed my fist onto the floor again, feeling the tingling beginnings of pain spiderweb throughout my hand and up through my arm. It felt real, so I slammed my fist down again, ignoring the blood I saw pooling on the dented wood floor.

I choked out the only word my mind would formulate as Quatre grabbed my arm before I could slam it down again, "Gone." I tried to pull away from him, but I was so caught up in wanting to murder the floor that I hadn't noticed it when Trowa had grabbed me from behind, dragging me unceremoniously to my feet. I struggled against him, snarling profanities in every language I knew in his general direction. I didn't want to be standing; I didn't want to be in Quatre's over-sized estate, not did I want to be going through this shit again. Not again. I stopped moving, drooping my head and sagging against Trowa. I didn't want to deal with it anymore, didn't want to feel that mind-numbing pain billowing throughout my entire being.

They were talking amongst themselves in varying tones ranging from panic to sheer uncertainty. I blocked them out, not wanting to hear them talk, knowing it would only make me want to break something. I pulled away from Trowa, struggling to propel myself towards the door.

"Yuy, where do you think you're going?" I think it was Wufei who spoke, and I felt my insides grow cold. It was his fault this happened, and it took every ounce of self-control I possessed to stop from turning around and planting my fist into face.

Keeping my body tense so I wouldn't kill him, I looked at the bastard over my shoulder, "Don't talk to me, Chang. I'm holding you personally responsible for this."

With that, I left Quatre's manor and checked into the first hotel I came upon. Anything to be away from that place.

Duo's POV

Staring up at the dark skies of insert name of death place here made me realize that maybe leaving like that hadn't been that great of an idea. Okay, so it made me realize that I was a fucking idiot for leaving Heero there by himself when he looked like he was about to have a panic attack. I felt like pond scum, hell, I felt like worse than pond scum. I felt like a smelly load of dog shit that had just been trampled on by spiked cleats. I definitely didn't want the image of his eyes wide with fear engraved in my mind forever, and it looked like with my new-found heritage that's what I was sitting on. And to have to live with knowing _I _put that look in his beautiful eyes for who knows how long would drive me to tears, then to insanity, and then back to tears. I couldn't stand that idea, but I couldn't go back either. I didn't want to see the others again, I didn't want to have to think about them anymore. I mean, I cared about them a lot. Hell, they were the best friends I'd ever had. That's what happens when you fight a war with someone and deal with their injuries and emotional break downs. But no matter how much I cared for them, the fact that Wufei didn't believe me... it hurt almost as badly as the Maxwell Church massacre.

I cringed, sighing into the dull void of the land of the dead. Really, it wasn't anything that spectacular. It was just _there_, like some backdrop for a movie. You don't really focus on the surroundings, but on the individual details. It didn't fit with the idea of Heaven or Hell, just being a place where the dead were taken and sorted so they could go where ever it was they were going next. Reincarnation, Heaven, Hell, or whatever other place or existence there is. It was beautiful though, that I wouldn't hesitate to say. It unnerved me a lot though, especially since the prominent colour was the exact shade of blue as Heero's eyes. Every time I looked around, I saw that colour and my regret at leaving like that got heavier and heavier.

I was beginning to think that maybe I should go back again, back to Heero, back to that hardly furnished one bedroom apartment he called home. I just wanted to be near _him_, the others completely forgotten as I built up my nerve to go back.

"Duo." I jumped at the voice, realizing that it was my mother herself standing next to me. I had been so absorbed in my thoughts that I hadn't noticed when she'd approached me, but I didn't think I would have noticed anyway. She _was_ a goddess, and probably couldn't be bothered with things like walking. I turned and looked at her. I definitely wasn't used to the fact that I could've been looking at myself, except female and all that shit, but it was getting easier. That didn't really sit well with the part of me trying to cling to the life I'd once had, completely free of goddesses and parents and custodial issues from Hell and ruined social lives, but the part of me embracing that new life thought it was just another step towards finally accepting myself. I promptly shoved a pineapple up that half of my mind's ass and told it to go fuck it's self. It was wallowing in pain for a few hours.

"Atropos." I forced a smile. Just because she was my mother didn't mean I had to like her.

Her smile wasn't forced, but instead flowed freely, "I'm so glad you're back from your escapade. Did things go well for you?"

Of course, for a death goddess she was too damn nice to hate. She wasn't cold like one would expect. Hell, compared to her, I was a stick in the mud asshole. "Oh, yeah! Everything was just fucking _dandy_."

"Don't be sarcastic." She chuckled, reaching out and putting a fluorescent arm around my shoulder, "I know what happened to you, Duo, and I'm sorry it had to turn out that way."

"What are you talking about? It's not over yet. I'm going back, I have to talk to Heero. I need to apologize for just..." I stopped talking, looking down at my hands. Yep, I felt like thrice trampled shit. Hurray.

"Vanishing?" Atropos put in, her voice knowing. I nodded. "He was very upset about that. He hurt his hand while slamming it against the floor, and nearly murdered the Chinese boy."

I cringed again. I knew she could keep tabs on anyone she wanted, but it was kind of unnerving to know that she'd been watching. And then it dawned on me what she had said, "How badly did he hurt himself?"

"He tore all the skin off of his left hand. I'm sure it stings most unpleasantly." She mused, walking ahead of me. Turning around, Atropos smiled slightly, "I'm sure everything will be fine, son. Come and see me if you need me." She faded from view, and I figured she went back to whatever duties she had to attend to.

Even more so than before, Heero was all I could think about after that, how it was my fault he had injured himself over me. I needed to go back to him.

Heero's POV

The room I'd checked into was dingy and cold, but it was someplace to sleep. The quarter moon shone in through the window as I scrubbed the dried and flaking blood off of my hand. It hurt, but nowhere near as badly as some of the other injuries I'd attained over the years. The tingling sensation hadn't faded yet, but I welcomed it. It reminded me of my lapse in sanity. The entire week, it seemed, had been a lapse in sanity and maybe now I would recover from it. Maybe it was all just a hallucination and I was actually sitting in an insane asylum somewhere. Unlikely, but not entirely improbable. I honestly didn't want it to be a dream, however. Well, not all of it. That day in particular I wished to whoever would listen that it hadn't happened, that it was the dream. No one was listening, it seemed, since as soon as I exited the bathroom with my hand wrapped in a fresh towel, I saw a woman who looked shockingly like Duo sitting in one of the hardback chairs by the window. I blinked and stared at her.

She noticed me standing there and offered me a smile, "Heero Yuy, it's a pleasure to meet you."

****

… To be continued

**A/N**: And that, my friends, is chapter 8. And guess what? I'm almost done with this. There will be a chapter 9 and some sort of epilogue, if I get around to doing it. I'm hoping I'll be able to finish this before September, but I can't promise anything. But hey! I wrote a one-shot today, and I finished this chapter! So hey, no worries, ne? AND, this took me less time then I thought it would. Regretfully, I don't think it's as good (even if it is a bit longer.) as the last chapter. Well, I suppose an update is an update and it isn't my call whether or not it's better. But still. I'm disappointed with myself. I was striving for this to be a defining chapter, and all it's got going for it is the fact it has alternating POVs and the Goddess of Death makes an appearance. So... In other words, it's pretty lame. But still. This story is my pride and joy, even if Wise Blood has more reviews and more people like it. _This_ fic is the one that tries my patience the most, since I actually need to be sorta true to the series as much as I can and OOCness is something I'm trying to avoid. At least with Wise Blood the story is AU, so it's isn't such a big deal. Anyway, thanks to all the reviewers, especially Trio Wing and Mineko Yuy! You two are the greatest!

P.S. Sorry for the Cliffy. :heart:


	9. Chapter 9

**Title**: Organic  
**Author**: HeeroDuo1x2x1  
**Genre**: Supernatural, Romance  
**Pairings**: Don't be retarded. Isn't it obvious?  
**Warnings**: Angst, Torture, OOC, Shifting POV, Psycho mothers  
**Disclaimer**: For the gazillionth time, I don't own GW. What's the point of even continuing saying this, lol?  
**Babble**: w00t. At this point I really just want to finish this fic so I can give my full attention to Wise Blood and the one-shot that's been plaguing me for about a month. Yeah. So... :blows raspberry: Only one or so chapters left! (Fei-babe might be a bit OOC.)

Chapter 9

_Heero's POV_

This wasn't happening.

That was all there was to it. There was no possible explanation for why the woman I assumed was Duo's mother, the goddess of death, had been sitting in my hotel room. I felt myself shaking, not knowing why I was suddenly so cold. It was a hundred times worse than when I'd been overcome with frigidness around Duo, and I nearly collapsed to the floor.

"Now, now, there's no need to be frightened. I'm just here for a little chat." She paused, smiling at me with thin lips. There was something fake about the way she spoke, the way she smiled. It seemed as if she was laughing at me beneath that kind-looking exterior, or that she knew something that I didn't and wasn't willing to explain what it was.

The temperature dropped another few degrees, and I did collapse. My knees hit the floor and sent me reeling forward. The cold hurt so deeply, and I couldn't get a breath out as I struggled to get back to my feet. Instead, I only managed to wrap my arms around myself in the faint hope that I could will some warmth back into my chilled body. "W-what is t-this?"

I couldn't focus my eyes and instead everything was shadowy, nonexistent. My teeth chattered as I vaguely heard the goddess speak, her voice somewhere between annoyance and delight, "Are you hot or cold?"

I could feel her smile even through my haze and I realized I hated her, "S-so c-cold..." I tried to curl into myself, thinking that if I were to try and move anymore I'd break into a million pieces. This thing couldn't have been Duo's mother. She radiated ice, harsh winds worse than those in Antarctica, but Duo did not. There was a chill about him, yes, but not so bad as what I was feeling at this moment. I think I may have been crying, but I couldn't tell. My mind kept screaming at me, telling me to get up, telling me that this frozen goddess wasn't who she claimed to be. I kept calling out to Duo, though whether it was only mental or if I had actually said the words aloud I'll never know.

"Oh, well." The so-called Death Goddess stood, coming and kneeling next to me as she continued speaking. "I'm sure you've never felt quite this cold before. I'm surprised you haven't developed hypothermia by now, but I suppose you aren't freezing yet." Her voice held laughter in it, but my mind was having a hard time processing her words. Then the cold intensified, and I knew what she meant. She wanted to kill me, but why would she go through all this trouble of causing hypothermia if she was the goddess of death? I couldn't breathe, I realized quite suddenly, and I struggled to draw in a short and raspy breath. I heard her laugh.

"Poor boy. It's a pity, really, but I can't let you take him from me." Her voice was different, no longer that sing-song prattle. She sounded old and monotonous, her chilling whispers almost like daggers of ice. "He doesn't have to be my son if he doesn't want to, and you've made him question himself. He may think he can hide it from me but he can't and neither can your puny mortal mind." She sneered, "I won't let mortal love tear my only son from me. I won't let you tear him from me. If you're dead then the

two of you can't be together. You'll be sorted and he'll never see you again."

She wanted me to suffer immensely as I died, and she was getting her way. I choked on the small amounts of burning air that seared my lungs as I took another forced breath, feeling my body beginning to become lax. Hot tears were indeed rolling down my cheeks, and I couldn't stop them. I was past caring what was happening to me. I was resigned to my fate. "I'm sorry, Duo," I repeated over and over in my head.

The goddess leaned her elbows on me as she said in a deadpan, "It's taking too long for you to die."

I snarled at her, trying to will myself to hit her, spit on her; something.

"Don't be like that, Mr. Yuy." That sickeningly sweet voice had returned, "Death isn't that bad. Of course, I've never actually died."

I wanted her to die. I wanted her to cease to exist; I wanted her to rot in hell for doing this to me. I wanted Duo to see her for the jealous, vindictive demon she was. I wanted him to kill her, because I knew I couldn't. But what would happen if she was to be destroyed? Would that make Duo the true God of Death, would it mean I'd only see him in passing when I die? The frigidness worsened, and I had a feeling she could see my thoughts as clearly as looking through a sheet of glass. With that in mind, I continued cursing her in my thoughts. Fine. Let her kill me. I knew that Duo wouldn't accept it, and I hoped he'd be aware of what she had done and he wouldn't forgive her. But she was a goddess. I didn't know what she was capable of, and for all I knew she could make it seem as if I'd killed myself or something equally disturbing.

"I'll make a deal with you, hmmm?" She said in a sing-song, standing again. The cold lessened a bit. "If you agree to break his heart, I won't kill you. I'll let you go on living your pathetic life and Duo will come back with me."

I managed to grind out a forced "fuck you" before she stole more of the heat from my body.

She sounded almost gleeful, "Well, if that's your choice then."

Something was wrong. The cold was fading, almost gone and I was relieved. I could feel my hands again, feel my body returning to normal. It soon became warm, and then hot, and then scorching. Again I couldn't breathe, and I felt as if I were on fire. I was vaguely aware of a harsh scream erupting from my mouth.

Duo's POV

I willed myself to Quatre's estate. I'd spent the better part of an half an hour trying to find Heero, but I couldn't, and I knew that something was wrong. "Quatre!" There was the sound of shuffling from the den I'd sat in only a few hours earlier, before Trowa, Quatre and Wufei rushed from the room, all looking at me with shock. I tried to smile at them, but couldn't make the stupid muscles in my face cooperate with me. "Is Heero still here?"

Trowa shook his head. It was pretty obvious he was still kind of twitchy about me, but he didn't hesitate in answering me, "No. He left about an hour ago."

"Shit, something's wrong," I looked around desperately, frowning, "I gotta find him."

I turned to go, but felt someone grab my arm. I had expected it to be Quatre, but I was damn shocked to see Wufei clutching my sleeve with this intense look on his face. He was acting like he'd rather be eating shit than muttering, "I will help you." His voice sounded forced and like he wasn't completely sure he should have been trusting me. I was still pissed at him, don't get me wrong, but no matter how he sounded the offer to help was about as good as the beginnings of an apology.

I gave him a look that said "don't think this means I forgive you" and nodded, "Good. You need to start earning some credit back, Chang Wufei."

The three of them followed me out of the mansion, and I looked around, trying to figure out which way Heero had gone from there. Everyone leaves an imprint on their surroundings, part of their life being shed around them that, if you looked carefully enough, was visible. I'd learned what Heero's looked like, but it was hard as hell to notice and I couldn't figure out why the fuck it was so faint. Normally his was bright and carefully contained. That feeble light was what really told me something was fucked up.

Heero Yuy's life shouldn't have been fading, especially not so quickly. The realization that something shitty was happening left a really fucked up feeling gouging away my insides. I followed that feeble glow as quickly as I could, dreading what I was going to find when I reached Heero.

Something really, really shitty, that much I knew. Something that wasn't all that natural. The closer I got, and the feeble light got a bit brighter, it hit me just what I was going to see. Like flicking on a light, I knew exactly what was happening to him. I knew who was responsible, knew why.

And I saw red.

I didn't even bother to tell the others before I vanished on them, making sure I entered that damn hotel quickly and as clandestinely(1) as I could manage. I didn't care that it was my own mother; all I saw was someone trying to kill Heero. Single track mind or not, I was furious and betrayed and I just wanted to rip Atropos apart. Slowly. I didn't know if a death goddess could be killed, but dammit I was going to try and I was going to be sure to inflict as much pain as I possibly could as I did. I stood watching her for a moment, my anger mounting as I saw Heero scream out in pure agony.

Before even I noticed it, I'd snatched her by the hair, pulling her away and shoving her to the ground, "What the FUCK do you think you're DOING!"

She recovered quickly, pushing me away with very little effort. Normally that would have bothered me, but it didn't. Maybe it was the fact that I just didn't give a shit at that point. "He doesn't deserve you."

I snarled at her, "That's for me to decide, not you! Why the hell are you doing this?"

"Because he shouldn't be mingling with anything in our realm!" My bitch of a mother exclaimed, and I noticed that Heero seemed to be relaxing as she yelled at me. Good. That was definitely good. I just had to keep her focused on me and not on him, and maybe things would be okay. Yeah. That was likely. She was letting up on him purposely, and I knew it. She was pretty aware of the fact that I wasn't the least bit happy with the situation.

"What are you TALKING about?"

Atropos glared down at Heero and looked as if she was going to try and kill him again, but she didn't. Instead she turned that glare on me, but it wasn't murderous. Annoyed, certainly. But it wasn't murderous. "You aren't meant to be near him."

I stared at her. No fucking way. First she tries killing him, then she claims something like that. Something wasn't right. And I mean that in a totally "My-death-goddess-mother-is-trying-to-kill-my-love-interest" unrelated way. I'm talking about the reason why she decided to fucking attempt erasing Heero Yuy from existence. And whatever bullshit reason she had fed him definitely wasn't it. "Somehow I'm getting the feeling that what you're gonna say is either really shitty or something you hate but I'll love."

"You have a gift with words." She mused, glancing back down to Heero. She looked like she REALLY wanted to make him suffer and I withheld a snarl. If I wanted her to lay-off, I figured listening to her would be better than pissing on her. "Despite your crude way of saying it, you are correct. It is rather 'shitty.'" She looked like she despised saying that. Geez.

"Skirting the issue." I deadpanned.

"You're killing him." She retorted, disdain aimed at Heero dripping from her voice, "and when he dies because of you he becomes like you."

A/N: CLIFFY! MUWHAHAHAHA! Anywho, the next chapter will hopefully be the last. I was considering combining this with the previous chapter (because it should be part of that chapter), and if I do it'll be posted that way on MediaMiner when I get around to posting this fic there. :grin: So yeah. Plot twist. Atropos is crazy but then at the same time she has her reasons. Yay:heart: This chapter is longer than I normally write (I'm a short and to the point person, normally), and I didn't want to torture poor Hee-chan too much, and writing as Duo with this fic is kinda awkward. Like riding a bike for the first time. I haven't written from his perspective for a while, and this fic is such a weird way to start again. Meh. Whatever.

(1) I love this word. I used it in Wise Blood, and in this because it's such a pretty word.


	10. Chapter 10

Title: Organic  
Author: HeeroDuo1x2x1  
Genre: Supernatural, Romance  
Pairings: Don't be retarded. Isn't it obvious?  
Warnings: OOC, Shifting POV, maple syrup, and skitzophrenic death goddesses  
Disclaimer: For the gazillionth time, I don't own GW. What's the point of even continuing saying this, lol?  
Babble: Look! It's the last chapter! OMFG! Well, I hope this is worth the wait. It's short, but you people with live, right?

_Heero's POV_

I was barely aware when my body temperature began returning to normal. I knew I was panting, and I knew that someone else had come into the room. It took me longer than expected for me to realize who it was, but it didn't change the relief that flooded through me at knowing that Duo was there. Movement betrayed me, and I couldn't stand from my vulnerable position.

I could distinctly hear Duo and that witch arguing, however, and I could hear Duo's angry tone fizzle down to something almost subdued. He sounded almost... afraid. What was actually being said seemed to fly out the proverbial window before I could even process what it was, but the tones of their voices was something else. The idea that whatever the death goddess was saying frightened Duo was disconcerting. I didn't like it.

_Duo's POV_

I wasn't going to take that. I wasn't going to put Heero in danger because I was a freak. But I wasn't going to leave him, and I wasn't going to let my mother be right. I completely understood why she wanted to kill him. I hated her for it, but I understood. And I couldn't for the life of me figure out a way around it, aside from snatching Heero up and getting the hell out of there.

The problem with that being then I'd end up accidentally killing him, which could go one of two ways. One, that he'd end up being fine and dandy and not dead, and two, that all that shit about bits of your energy being left behind ends up being fake and then he's gone forever.

That's what she meant, I'd bet, when she said that he'd end up like me if he died because of me. Kind of like when some people do blood vows, cutting themselves and then pressing the bleeding flesh together to let the blood mingle. It's like that, only with energy and instead of stopping when the blood clots, energy continues flowing into whoever is closest. It doesn't happen like that with humans, since they're alive. I, on the other hand, am pretty much dead. My energy, when mixed too much with someone who's alive, would kill them, and would probably leave so much residue behind that they'd end up alive again, or at least some kind of alive.

At least I think that's what she meant. I almost hope it's not, but then at the same time... I wish it was. But I doubted Heero would want that, and instead of running and hiding like my entire body was telling me to, I looked at my mother and raised my chin ever-so-slightly, "If that's the case, then I don't want to be your son anymore."

I was proud of myself for saying that. My voice didn't waiver at all, and pretty much stayed even. Atropos's face was another story. Her eyes widened, then narrowed, then widened again, and her mouth opened and closed. She was at a loss for words.

"You'd give up everything I can give to... to be _mortal_ again? To live and die like every other human?" She obviously couldn't really grasp this, but I just nodded. I noticed that Heero finally seemed to be able to sit up, and I glanced at him quickly. His eyes were just as wide as Atropos's.

"I would. I'd give up everything and more," I looked back to Heero, who was just staring at me as I spoke, almost disbelievingly, "Just to spend a normal, human life with Heero."

The Goddess of Death put a hand to her face, "I can't believe this. It just... doesn't make any sense! Why! Why would you want to be... human when you don't have to be?"

"Because everything I had when I was normal is more important to me than anything being a death god could offer! Because everyone I care about are humans, and alive and living their lives, while I'm stuck somewhere in between! I'm not alive, I'm not dead, I'm just... here!" I took a deep breath, squinting my eyes closed before forcing myslef to look again at Atropos, "I don't want to just be a shadow, just some memory. I want to finish living out my life, not the so-called 'life' that was forced upon me by a few stray gunshots."

I gave Heero a warm smile, and it grew wider when he returned it, just so. "I want to be human for you, Heero."

"D-Duo..." Heero's voice was soft, raspy, but I heard it clearly from his spot a few feet away on the floor. My mother was silent for a moment.

"You're serious."

"You bet I am."

Silence again, the only sound being me shifting on my feet and Heero's labored breathing.

With an almost inaudible sigh, my mother sat on the bed in the hotel room and gave me a long look, "I was hoping you would not want to go back to that, but... I can't stop you. You've told me what you want to do, and I have no right to tell you otherwise."

I blinked. Holy shit. I had honestly expected her to freak out or something. Considering the way that Heero started coughing, I figured he's thought the same thing. "You're going to let me?"

"I don't have a choice, son," she gave me a strained smile, careful not to look at Heero, "You've made your decision."

I barely had time to smile before everything went black.

_Heero's POV_

He wanted to be human for me. He wanted to give up his claim to that place of death for me. I really only had a moment to think about it before I found myself unconscious. The next time I awoke, it was to find myself in my apartment, with Duo lying on the bed next to me. He was clinging to me, and for the first time since he'd re-entered my life, I didn't feel ill around him. His body was warm pressed up against mine, and I was pondering how the insane goddess had managed to do this. My thoughts were short lived however, as the phone began to ring. I gently pulled myself from the bed, careful not to disturb Duo.

The number on the I.D. proclaimed that it was Quatre, and I had the strangest thought, something relating to a dinner party he'd set up for us all to celebrate something. I shrugged it off and picked up the reciever, watching at the blond's smiling face lit up the vid screen.

"Good morning, Heero!" he exclaimed, and I nodded.

"Good morning to you, too."

Quatre suddenly started trying to look around me, "What is that sound?"

I was suddenly having a horrible feeling of deja vu. I knew that at any minute Duo would walk out of the room and Quatre would freak out.

"By Allah! Duo!"

I cringed, but Quatre sounded more delighted than frightened and his face was brilliant.

"We were all wondering were you went off to!" Quatre continued, and Duo gave me a funny look before reaching and taking the reciever from me.

"What are you talking about, Quatre?"

"You've been missing for 6 months! We were worried! When you were shot... well, we thought we'd see you when you were well enough for Sally to release from the Preventer's hospital. Instead, we get a phone call saying you'd run off!" Quatre laughed, "We knew you were alright, but that didn't stop us from worrying! Have you been with Heero this entire time?"

Something was telling me that, yes, Duo had been with me for the past six months, and I could tell that whatever was telling me this was also telling Duo. He was grinning at Quatre, "You betcha, Q. I can't stand hospitals, you know that." They spoke for another few minutes, before Duo hung up the phone and turned to me, his face confused. "He doesn't remember."

"I noticed."

"So why do we?"

I shrugged, but offered a slight smile that Duo returned ten-fold, "It's something we shouldn't forget."

"I meant it, you know."

"Meant what?"

"When I said I'd give it all up for you," He reached out and ran his hands lightly over my arms, "Everything and more."

I leaned towards him, reaching a hand up and resting it on his cheek. His eyes weren't glowing anymore, only holding a small hint of the brilliant amethyst they'd been only a few hours before, but they were still beautiful. Those strange overlapping memories told me that we had crossed the line between friendship and more 3 months prior. The other memories, the ones that weren't valid anymore, assured me that Duo and I hadn't done anything of the sort at that time. I ignored the invalid memories, thinking that the important ones, these strange add-ons, were the ones that mattered, the ones that gave me the courage to do what I was about to do. I gave him a soft smile that made those eyes light up, and right before pressing my lips to his, I whispered, "I know."

- Owari

A/N: And, folks, that's that. It's done. All over. Happily ever after and all that jazz. (Okay, so I wouldn't say Duo disowning himself and making his crazy-ass mother insanely sad is happy. But at least he and Heero will be together! O.o) Anywho. I'll put up the "thanks a lot" section in about a week. So if anyone has questions about anything that happened here, let me know, and I'll get back to you in about a week!


End file.
